Reliable Sources
by ziggy pop eno
Summary: A gypsy comes to court saying he knows a Seer that sees information about the fight with Scanra. Alanna, Kel and Neal are sent with him to check it out, and the have to decide whether believing the gypsy is a risk worth taking. R/R, more to come! *ch 2 ad
1. Coming to Court

-Reliable Sources -  
  
By TheRogue   
  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except for the characters you don't recognize form the books; those are mine. So I own next to nothing.   
  
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Padduk L'Petrie nearly laughed with relief as he saw the palace of the capital of Tortall, Corus, rise in the near distance. His ride hadn't been a hard one, really. The weather had been good, considering it was March, and he hadn't met any bandits or raiders along the way. It was the fact that no one he knew seemed to want him to go on that ride. Of course, he had gone anyway; he never let what someone thought get in the way of him doing something. He had still taken the ride, because he knew he must, he knew it was important even if everyone had told him to forget about it. But Padduk had not gone happily on the ride, rather, he had gone reluctantly. He didn't like not being in everyone's good graces in the first place, and now he knew that they would never accept him back into the community, now that he'd gone against them like this. Yet here he was. Perhaps he was headstrong, as his mother had always said he was. Padduk hadn't known what it meant at the time, but he knew he did now.   
  
  
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King Jonathan knocked at the door to the rooms Lady Alanna used when she was at the palace, aware that she wouldn't like what he had to tell her. Behind him were Lord Raoul, Lord Miles and Buri, his most trusted advisors along with Alanna.   
  
"Good evening, your majesty, Miles, Raoul, Buri," The Lioness said as she opened the door and let them in. Her eyes were questioning; the king and his advisors usually didn't call on her in the afternoon, they waited until the evening because the afternoon was when appointments were made. So either the king had no appointments lined up for today, or something very big had happened.   
  
As the sat down at Alanna's table, she fixed lemonade for them and joined them at the table. "So what brings this lovely group to me?" she asked when they were all settled.   
  
"Well, as you've probably already guessed, me and Thayet didn't have any appointments set up for today," Jon said. "So we decided to see some of those people who show up requesting to see the king and queen, but don't schedule an official appointment beforehand." Alanna nodded. She had already guessed all of this, and still didn't see why half of the king's council was here.   
  
"I know that half of the time these people aren't worth listening to, but I have a feeling that this one may be worth looking into, and it seems quite serious as well. So I want this visitor to tell his story to all of you as well, because I'd like to have your opinion on the matter."  
  
"So why don't you just tell us what his deal is, instead of wrangling us all together to go down and have this stranger tell us himself?" Alanna asked, finishing her lemonade.   
  
"I didn't want to keep him waiting, and I thought he could tell the story better. So will you come hear him? It won't take that long. The rest have agreed to," Jon said, indicating the others seated with them.   
  
"I guess so. It's not like I'm doing anything terribly important now that I'm on this break from the fighting with Scanra," the Lioness said, rubbing her eyes. She didn't feel like working, but this was her king. Jon smiled at her, and they headed off to the throne room.   
  
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Alanna looked at the young man that Jon had introduced to her, Raoul, Buri and Miles as Padduk L'Petrie. Everyone was in one of the palace's conference rooms, because they could seat everyone, unlike the throne room. Padduk was at the opposite end of the table of them, standing. He looked as if he had no idea what he should be doing in the presence of people of such eminence. As soon as she had seen him, Alanna had known that he had good reason to be nervous in the palace, and especially among some of Tortall's most important people. The Lioness had instantly recognized the visitor as a gypsy, people who were often ostracized by other Tortallian society. His moon-faced, soft-featured looks, pale skin and dark eyes spoke of a mix of nationalities, as almost all gypsies were. His clothing was their traditional garb: very loose and baggy brown linen pants, a white shirt that draw-stringed at the neck and cuffs, and a fine, home-tooled leather vest, and around his waist a collection of scarves and sashes were tied, with a dagger and battle axe stuck into them. Padduk had the traditional numerous ear piercings and necklaces as well. One thing puzzled Alanna, though: the man's head was completely and utterly bald. He was obviously too young to have had his hair fall out (he looked barely 23), so he must have shaved it on purpose. This puzzled her.   
  
For a few minutes, nothing was said, and Padduk just stood there debating whether he should take it upon himself to sit at the table with them, or if he should wait for the monarchs to invite him to sit. Just as he had decided to sit, the King said, "You may sit, Mr. L'Petrie." Padduk blushed and sat, looking at his hands folded in his lap.   
  
"Mr. Padduk, I have brought my advisors from my council here to listen to your story because I would like to have their opinion on the matter. Do you mind repeating what you've told me for them?" King Jonathan asked, Padduk lifting his eyes to look at him.  
  
"Yes, I can certainly do that if your majesty wishes," Padduk replied, with a brisk intelligence that was unexpected by the others. The gypsy cleared his throat and then began. "As you may know, I am what many refer to as a gypsy. Gypsies such as myself live in traveling caravans and are usually shepherds. My caravan is L'Petrie, hence my sir-name. There is a middle-aged woman in our caravan that has been known for her accurate Sight, and she often consults her Seeings for the caravan. She has never used her Sight to help anyone outside of our caravan, since we Gypsies do not usually like to get tied in with others. Lately, though, this woman has been Seeing different things then usual. Her Seeings usually had to do with the caravan or people within it. Now she has been Seeing things that have to do with the whole country, all of Tortall. And she says all of her Seeings have to do with the fighting with Scanra; upcoming battles, tactics, important victories, etc. I, myself, haven't been around when she's given them since I don't know her that well. But she has been having them. The caravan was concerned but didn't want to notify anyone. As I told you, we don't like to get tied up with the outside. We like to tend to our sheep, travel and trade with other caravans. We're simple people and we like to keep it that way. Besides, the outside doesn't like us much because we usually squat when our caravan needs to stop. So nobody wanted to tell anyone else about this woman's visions. I guess I was the only one who saw how important this might be to Tortall, because I was the only one who attempted to tell your majesties about them. The rest of the caravan told me not to go, but I went anyway. I know that they won't let me back with them, but...I guess Tortall is worth it." Padduk finished with a sigh, and fidgeted with the scarves at his waist.   
  
The king looked at his advisors. "So what do you think we should do? Should we take it seriously?"  
  
"I think you should at least send someone to check things out with her, see what the really deal is before we go ballistic over this," Buri spoke up.   
  
Alanna nodded. "I agree. I could be real, or she could be making it up for attention. People with the sight have been known to be very accurate even with matters as broad as this one," she said.   
  
"So what about you two, Miles and Raoul? You agree that we should send someone to check it out before taking it full on?" The King asked. Raoul and Miles nodded their agreement. "That's settled then. Now whom should we send? I'm thinking about two should go with Padduk to where the caravan was when he left and find them from there."  
  
The advisors took a moment to think, when Alanna spoke up nonchalantly. "I'll go. I'm suppose to be 'taking a break' from fighting with Scanra, since I've been down there for nearly a year."  
  
"When I told you to take a break, I meant it, Alanna. You can't work non-stop," Jon said, frowning.   
  
"This will be a break. I'm just going to go for a little ride with my buddy Padduk here and visit with a Seer. No big deal," The Lioness retorted, giving Padduk a smile when she mentioned him. He felt very awkward with people talking about him and his problems while he was around.   
  
Jon rolled his eyes and sighed, showing that he had given up. "Okay, you may go, Alanna. I suppose you haven't done this sort of thing in while, after all. I want you taking two other knights with you for safety. You can never be two sure with the fighting going on now."   
  
"Hmm... Who's here at the palace now?" Alanna thought out loud. There's Kel of Mindelin, I can take her along, and who else? Anyone remember if any other Knight is here?"  
  
"There's Neal of Queenscove, I believe. We were talking yesterday," Raoul pointed out.   
  
"Okay, so that's that. Alanna, you will leave tomorrow along with Lady Kel and Sir Neal, and Padduk will be your guide," Jon proclaimed, finalizing the decision. He looked to Padduk for approval.   
  
"Sounds wonderful to me. But, honestly, three knights? That's more than all the nobility I had seen in my life before today!" Padduk said in all honesty. The small council couldn't help but giggle at that.   
  
  
  
  



	2. Keeping Up Appearances

- Reliable Sources -  
  
By TheRogue  
  
Chapter 2: Keeping Up Appearances   
  
  
Padduk didn't really have a whole lot to do, considering he was to leave on a journey the next day. A kindly servant had shown him to a vacant room that he could sleep in for the night. Padduk had slept in a bed before; that he was proud of. Most of caravan mates hadn't, since most everyone used hammocks. Padduk had slept in a bed the few times before when the caravan had kicked him out. They had accepted him back in, of course, after he had caught up with them. It was just a punishment, a joke to teach him a lesson. But Padduk was certain that this time it wouldn't be a joke to frighten him. They really would kick him out, and Padduk would be forced to settle in one place (which he hadn't done before) and get a normal line of work, other then the shepherding and thievery he was accustomed to.   
  
The gypsy didn't want to think about that, and instead focused on remembering what one did in a room such as this. The bed was small, with a faded, hand-made quilt and a hand-turned bed frame. He suspected that the mattress was stuffed with horse's hair, as it was firm and giving, and Tortall had an abundance of it. There was a table that matched the bed frame, with a plain white pitcher, bowl and hand towel. The tan jute rug scratched his now bare feet, and Padduk vaguely remembered that the pitcher was filled with water, and should be used with the bowl to wash his face and hands.   
  
He poured some of the lukewarm water into the bowl and washed himself, even the top of his shaved-bald head, because sometimes he secretly worried if birds had pooped on it from above. It seemed stupid to him when he really thought of it, but what if it did happen? It wouldn't seem stupid then! Turning from the washbasin, he noticed that the servant had dropped his saddlebags off for him, and they were on the ground in front of the bed. He also noticed something else had been dropped off with his saddlebags: his herding dog, Tré, was curled up and asleep behind them. Tré was a breed of dog known as a 'blue heeler', bred specifically for herding. This one was short legged and long-bodied, with upright ears and shaggy tan hair on his under-belly, legs and snout, and blackish-gray hair from his tail over his back up to his eyes. The coloring gave the dog a blue-ish look, hence the name. Padduk knelt over his dog and gave his head a scratch, glad that he hadn't left him with the caravan. They had other dogs, and Tré was his. Tré opened his eyes lazily at his master's touch, and then sat up and gave his master's face a hearty licking. When Padduk had arrived at the palace that morning, they had taken Tré away when they had taken his horse.   
  
As Tré was licking his face, Padduk heard a knock at the door to his room, and stood to open it. At the door was a very tall woman whom he could not remember meeting.   
"Hello, is there, um, something I could help you with?" Padduk asked, looking up at the woman. He was 5-foot, 5-inches, which was short to begin with for a male, but this stranger made him feel like a dwarf. Did all nobles make people feel inferior?   
  
The woman smiled at him. "I am Lady Keldry, a knight of the real of Tortall. I'm one of the knights coming with you on the, um, trip to that gypsy caravan. And this is Sir Nealan of Queenscove, also a knight of the realm." Keldry stepped aside to reveal a male standing behind her that she had completely blocked with her height. Sir Neal was a man with a long nose and a widow's peak, and he looked as if he never outgrew the gangly stage of his teen years. Lady Kel was strong featured and sharp looking, but pretty with wavy brown hair, cut between her shoulders and chin. Both knights were dressed as plainly as Padduk himself.   
  
Snapping out of his indecisive trance, Padduk opened the door wider for them and said "Oh, um, please, come in, I'm afraid I don't have a table or chairs. And I would offer you tea, but alas, I lack that as well..."  
  
"Oh, that's all right. Besides, if I have tea after 4 o'clock, I'm up all night anyways," said Sir Neal, shrugging. Padduk just smiled and nodded, not really sure how to respond to that.   
  
"Well, it's Padduk L'Petrie, right?" asked Kel. Padduk nodded. "Since we'll both be going along with you, we thought we'd stop by and hello and go over a few things." Padduk nodded again. "First of all, we do know why we're going; Lady Alanna informed us of that. Second of all, is your horse fit to ride tomorrow? I know it seems like a silly question, but we want to be prepared."   
  
"I haven't seen my horse since I arrived, but I didn't ride him all that hard, so I can guess he'll be all rested up." It was Kel's turn to nod this time, her eyes focused on the ax at Padduk's side. It was a lovely weapon, she could tell, but it did not bear the mark of any armory as far as she could tell. She wondered if Padduk had gotten it from one of his fellow gypsies.   
  
Neal rolled his eyes. He felt stupid and childlike, but was accustomed to it after so many years. Him and Kel weren't visiting Padduk to 'go over a few things' as Kel had put it. They had really gone because they had never seen a gypsy before, and in reality wanted to gawk at him like something at a sideshow. Neal had pulled Kel along with it, who had really gotten into it after a bit. Neal now realized how immature they'd been, and grimaced. Padduk didn't even look like what he'd thought a gypsy would. He was short, handsome and pale, while Neal had expected a tall, buff dark man with horrible facial distortions. There was the shaved-bald head, which neither Neal nor Kel had seen coming, and the earrings which now struck a chord in Neal. He remembered from his classes as a page that in gypsy culture, each piercing meant something. Padduk had one silver hoop in his left earlobe, two hoops in his right earlobe, two small hoops in the upper part of his left ear and a stud through the upper part of his right. The only one Neal could remember was that the stud meant that he was considered a 'man' among his people. He guessed that probably had a few hand-made tattoos on his back and arms, as well.  
  
While Neal had been thinking, Padduk had introduced Kel to Tré, and they had gone over the time schedule for tomorrow. The dog came over to Neal, and showed his affection by sniffing his leg.   
  
"This is Tré, my herding dog," Padduk explained, scratching the hound on the rump.   
  
"Interesting name. Where'd you get from?" Neal asked, letting Tré sniff his other leg.   
  
"I'm not sure, actually. It translates to something in a gypsy dialect, but I don't speak it. I just heard the word once and thought it was pretty and would make a good name."   
  
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As Kel and Neal left, saying they all could use a good night's sleep, Padduk was relieved, if not joyous. Perhaps this trip won't be that bad, after all, he thought. Lady Kel and Sir Neal seem interesting.  
  
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Kel and Neal walked back to their rooms silently, both relived and ashamed. Maybe this journey won't be as terrible as I thought, Kel mused to herself. Padduk seems interesting enough.   
  
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Author's Note: By the by, Tré the dog's name is pronounced "Tray", as in "Bring me my breakfast *tray*."  



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